Policy-Robust Processing Networks: Characterization and Design

该奖项将通过改进随机处理网络的设计和操作来促进国家的经济竞争力。 随机处理网络由相互连接的处理节点组成，具有一定的灵活性来管理自己的时间表，出现在各种环境中，包括许多服务系统和一些制造系统。 到达时间、处理时间和通过网络的路线可能无法确定地预测，这一事实使得这些网络特别难以分析。 该奖项支持研究这些网络的全局稳定性条件，其中网络中的每个节点都具有一定的自主权和独立的调度权限;也就是说，较大的网络不在集中式调度器下运行。网络的稳定性确保了任何进入网络的实体最终都会被处理并离开网络。 该项目研究随机处理网络，包括更新到达过程，一般分布的服务时间，伯努利路由，以及在每个站点的多个类别的工作。一个主要的兴趣是这些网络的全局稳定性，即，当每个单独的节点在其自己的非空闲调度策略下操作时，网络作为整体的稳定性。 在这些网络中，控制是分布式的，而不是由中央调度器决定。这项研究的主要目标是开发一个新的全球稳定性框架，可以支持操作规则的设计，允许相当普遍的分散控制。 该项目将导致更好地理解强大的复杂网络的设计。所采用的技术涉及从流体和扩散近似到扩散网络的想法，沿着从鲁棒优化的概念。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

This award will contribute to the nation's economic competitiveness by improving the design and operation of stochastic processing networks. Stochastic processing networks, consisting of interconnected processing nodes with some flexibility to manage their own schedules, arise in a variety of settings, including many service systems and some manufacturing systems. The fact that arrival times, processing times, and routes through the network may not be predictable with certainty makes these networks particularly difficult to analyze. This award supports research into conditions for global stability of these networks where each node in the network has some autonomy and independent scheduling authority; that is, the larger network does not operate under a centralized scheduler. Stability of the network ensures that any entity entering the network will eventually be processed and leave the network. The project studies stochastic processing networks incorporating renewal arrival processes, service times with general distributions, Bernoulli routing, and multiple classes of jobs at each station. A primary interest is the global stability of these networks, i.e., stability of the network as a whole when each individual node operates under its own non-idling scheduling policy. In these networks, control is distributed, rather than being determined by a central scheduler. The major goal of this research is the development of a new framework for global stability that can support the design of operating rules that allow fairly general decentralized control. The project will lead to a better understanding of the design of robust complex networks. The techniques employed involve ideas from fluid and diffusion approximations to queueing networks, along with notions from robust optimization.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.